HISTORY

“The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.”Herbert Spencer

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Discovered from an ancient city in Iraq, the earliest evidence of bail bonds is recorded on clay tablets.

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Habeas Corpus Act in England established magistrates’ ability to set terms for bail.

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The English Bill of Rights of 1689 declared restrictions against "excessive bail" and later inspired the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

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The United States Judiciary Act of 1789 established that all noncapital offenses were bailable. In the case of capital crimes, the possibility of bail was at the judge’s discretion.

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The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution adopted prohibiting the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishment.

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In Oklahoma, several insurance companies failed or stopped doing business, leaving the State of Oklahoma with thousands of dollars of bond money owed to the court system for bond forfeitures. Bills were introduced in the Legislature to do away with the bail bonds industry.

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Bail bondsmen in Oklahoma tried to figure out what went wrong. The Insurance Commission weeded out a few less competent bonding agents, and the 'New Day Program' was started in Tulsa County and the 'Own Recognizance Program' was instituted in Oklahoma County.

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Several bail bondsmen met with the Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner's office and worked out an agreement whereby the bondsmen would pay a fee in the amount of $2 per thousand of the face amount of the bond.

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The first meeting of the Oklahoma Bondsman Association took place at Fuzzy's Restaurant in Oklahoma City. The group came together to improve the bondsman profession.

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The Oklahoma Bondsman Association (OBA) was incorporated. The association immediately started working to clean up the bond laws in Oklahoma and introduced legislation including requiring education for licensure and continuing education.

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Oklahoma became the first state in the nation to give one association, OBA, the responsibility for conducting accredited education courses.

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OBA purchased its own building only two blocks from the State Capitol Building, providing a physical presence near the Oklahoma Legislature.

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The Oklahoma Legislature passed a law placing all fees, receipts and monies collected by the Insurance Commissioner to the credit of the Bail Bondsmen Revolving Fund and dedicated the funds to the expense of examinations, licensing, investigations and providing of forms, the operating expenses of the Department and other related expenses necessitated by the act.

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OBA hired Bob Rollins as Executive Director.

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OBA re-incorporated as a not-for-profit organization.

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OBA hired a full-time Executive Director, Cathy Guyer, to help lead the association into the future. Cathy Guyer is the former Director of the Bail Bond Division of the Oklahoma Insurance Department.